[R] Growth of CRAN?

[Spencer Graves]

p.s.  Have backup copies of CRAN been made, e.g., annually or with each 
new release?  Or are there summaries of the tests done with each new 
release?  I'm looking for something that could be checked to compile a 
more accurate and consistent database than what we have now.  For me, 
this is idle curiosity.  However, this could be used to help plan the 
expansion of CRAN, providing forecasts with confidence bounds.


########################


Hi, Hadley:


On 4/14/2014 5:53 AM, Hadley Wickham wrote:
> For finer level detail, have a look at
> https://github.com/hadley/cran-packages. It contains the description
> file of every package ever uploaded to CRAN (the cache is a few months
> out of date, but you can easily re-run)


       Can that be mined to get the date of first commit to CRAN? Dates 
in description files are sometimes updated.  Example:  The "Date" in the 
Description file for the version of "fda" now on CRAN is 2013-05, but 
fda was on CRAN at least in 2006 and probably earlier.  You are listed 
as second author on that package based on work you did in by 2006.


       Spencer

> Hadley
>
> On Sun, Apr 13, 2014 at 12:59 PM, Spencer Graves
> <spencer.graves at structuremonitoring.com> wrote:
>>        What data exist on the growth of CRAN?
>>
>>
>>        John Fox published some data on it in 2009 ("Aspects of the Social
>> Organization and Trajectory of the R Project", R Journal,
>> http://journal.r-project.org/archive/2009-2/RJournal_2009-2_Fox.pdf). Below
>> please find those numbers plus some additions of mine since. If anyone else
>> has other numbers (or more accurate numbers), I'd like to know.
>>
>>
>>        I plan to add a "CRANpackages" data set to the "Ecdat" package with a
>> title, "Growth of CRAN" unless someone else provides better numbers or
>> title.  [If it already exists on CRAN, I'd like to know. I doubt if it does,
>> because I couldn't find it with findFn{sos} for 'number of CRAN packages'
>> and 'growth of CRAN'.]
>>
>>
>>        Thanks,
>>        Spencer
>>
>>
>> date    packages
>> 2001-06-21    110
>> 2001-12-17    129
>> 2002-06-12    162
>> 2003-05-27    219
>> 2003-11-16    273
>> 2004-06-05    357
>> 2004-10-12    406
>> 2005-06-18    548
>> 2005-12-16    647
>> 2006-05-31    739
>> 2006-12-12    911
>> 2007-04-12    1000
>> 2007-11-16    1300
>> 2008-03-18    1427
>> 2008-10-18    1614
>> 2009-09-17    1952
>> 2012-06-12    3786
>> 2012-11-01    4082
>> 2012-12-14    4210
>> 2013-10-28    4960
>> 2013-11-08    5000
>> 2014-04-13    5428
>>
>>
>> * NOTE:  These numbers may differ slightly from other sources. Numbers
>> through 2009 were read from a plot in Fox's paper.  Numbers since were read
>> at an arbitrary time during the day, Pacific time, from a mirror in the
>> United States and could differ from those recorded by someone else using a
>> different mirror having the same date in local time  someplace else.
>>
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